Fuel distribution valve for a gas turbine engine

Abstract

A valve having a translatable annular slot communicates with discretely shaped and judiciously located elongated, variable width slots for metering fuel to individual fuel nozzles in a burner of a jet engine without changing the fuel scheduling characteristics of the fuel control. The valve can have sequential lighting capabilities in the event that the burner is designed with this feature.

We claim: 
     
       1. A fuel distributing valve for directing metered fuel flow from a fuel control controlling the operation of a gas turbine engine to the fuel nozzles of the burner of that gas turbine engine, said fuel distributing valve having a cylindrical casing, a sleeve affixed in a bore of said cylindrical casing having a plurality of spaced circumferential elongated slots of varying widths communicating with corresponding complimentary outlet ports in said casing communicating with said nozzles, a piston in sliding relationship with said sleeve having an annular groove, means for feeding fuel to said annular groove so that the position of said annular groove relative to said elongated slots determines the amount of fuel permitted to enter each of said nozzles. 
     
     
       2. A fuel distributing valve as in claim 1 wherein said piston includes opposing reaction faces, where one of said faces is subjected to a spring force and reference pressure and the other face is subjected to the metered fuel. 
     
     
       3. A fuel distributing valve as in claim 2 wherein said cylindrical casing is closed on one end and opened on the other end including a cap element having a flange for being mounted on said open end of said cylindrical bore, a recess in said cap for receiving one end of said spring and the opposing end of said spring bearing on said face. 
     
     
       4. A fuel distributing valve as in claim 3 wherein the end of said sleeve includes a flange extending radially abutting against said end of said cylindrical casing at the open end for being retained by said flange of said cap. 
     
     
       5. A fuel distributing valve as in claim 1 wherein said plurality of elongated slots have different lengths and the beginning thereof is axially spaced so that said annular slot comes in contact with the plurality of slots at different axial positions of its rectilinear travel to sequentially fill said nozzles. 
     
     
       6. A fuel distributing valve as in claim 5 including an additional varying slot in said sleeve communicating with an outlet port for leading fuel back to said fuel control, the size of said additional slot being selected so that the total fuel admitted to said plurality of slots intended to be distributed to said nozzles is distributed so that the quantity of fuel allotted to the slots that are out of full communication with said nozzles flows through said additional slot.